Lunch change at Barron Collier High School concerns some parents

At Barron Collier High School, the hardest change may not be the new schedule but the lunch period.

The Naples Daily News received several phone calls from parents concerned that Barron had moved away from two lunch periods to one lunch period for all students. They were concerned that students didn't have enough time to get lunch and eat when there are almost 2,000 kids eating lunch at the same time.

The decision brings Barron in line with all of the other Collier County high schools and was done at Barron Collier several years ago before the school went to two lunches.

There was also another good reason to do it, according to Principal Tim Kutz.

"We have not had any requests for schedule changes so that students could have lunch with their friends," he said. "Now everyone has the same lunch."

Kutz said he has not received any complaints from Barron's 1,717 students about the single lunch period, but said he had received about 15 phone calls from concerned parents.

"It is always hectic for the first few days, but we turned off the bells to ensure students would have enough time to eat," he said Thursday afternoon.

"When lunch was dismissed both days, there were no students in line to get food. The main line was empty for 12 minutes before students were dismissed."

Kutz, who has two children who also attend Barron, said one ate lunch and one didn't. The one who didn't eat lunch, he said, didn't have money on him to buy lunch.

The change is going to take some time to get used to, Kutz said.

But parents also worry that students don't have a place to eat lunch. Several said their students ate standing up, although Kutz said students can eat their lunch in the cafeteria, on the patio or in the auxiliary gym.

"There are plenty of places to have lunch," he said. "Students are creatures of habit. They want to eat in a certain place. They want to sit 10 people at a table made for eight. I am sure there will be bumps in the road, but we will work through it. The students will find a way."

But parents who contacted the Naples Daily News said students shouldn't be forced to eat in a gymnasium because there aren't enough seats in the cafeteria.

Kutz urged students who believed they didn't have enough time to have lunch to talk to him about it.

"No student should be told that they have to throw food away and go to class. If they were told that, I need to know about it," he said.